WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin DNR has new funding available for communities and homeowners to identify and remove PFAS.

According to the Wisconsin DNR, PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals that are grease and waterproof. The chemicals are present in things like nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpet, furniture and clothing, water-repellant gear like rain jackets, and personal care products like dental floss and make-up. Fast food containers, wrapping and pizza boxes have also frequently contained PFAS.

In April, Governor Tony Evers signed Act 200 and 201 into law, creating new grant programs to help Wisconsin’s communities address PFAS contamination, especially in drinking water. Communities can apply for the grants to test their water and if PFAS is found, the DNR will also help mitigate the contamination.

“The community grants sampling program, municipalities may apply for funding to develop and implement their own sampling programs,” Jim Ritchie, the director of Community Financial Assistance Bureau at the Wisconsin DNR, said. “Under the law, municipality is broadly defined and includes counties, cities, villages or towns. As well as tribal governing bodies, utility or sewage districts, lake protection districts, and technical college districts.”

The acts signed into law gave the DNR access to nearly $133 million in the PFAS trust fund. Those funds are now being used to help reduce exposure to the citizens in Wisconsin. There are two new programs that are now open to communities and individual well owners. These programs were created by the DNR after several listening sessions and online surveys of residents and communities across the state. 

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The two new programs to help reduce that exposure are called The PFAS Community Grants Program and the Wisconsin PFAS Private Well Testing program or (WisPPWT).

“Our goal is to really help communities have those resources, to identify is there impacts of PFAS in their community,” Mimi Johnson, with the Wisconsin DNR, said. “We can work to sample drinking water, that is our primary pathway of exposure, and then we have tools to disrupt that exposure. So ideally, we all have access to safer water in the state.”

WisPPWT allows for sampling at private wells that are not located in a municipality that is applying for a community grant. The well owner just has to complete an application, and DNR staff will verify the well's eligibility. Private well owners interested in this program should first contact their local officials about community-based plans. If their local municipality doesn’t have plans for a community sampling program, a private well owner can start the application. This program is different than other well compensation programs -- the income limits were removed so more people are able to apply.

“In the new PFAS well compensation program, there will not be income limits,” Ritchie said. “Instead, there will be four tiers of cost share funding percentages, with the highest cost sharing funding up to 100% for the lowest household incomes and then four tiers going down to 25%.”

The grants that were announced are cycle A of this funding. The DNR says cycle A is made up of about $2 million of the more than $79 million that DNR was overall appropriated out of that overall $133 million trust fund. Within the $2 million for cycle A, a total of $1 million is available for drinking water sampling. A total of $500,000 is available for post sampling actions to disrupt PFAS exposure and $500,000 is available for sampling wastewater and other materials.

WisPPWT cannot yet be applied for; the DNR says they will have more details about how individual well owners can apply in early 2027. Municipalities interested in the PFAS Community Grant program have until April 2027 to submit an application. The DNR anticipates that there will be additional grant opportunities following the first cycle, so communities that need extra time to develop a plan have it. For more information, click here.